Bio-Rad KnowitAll U Spectra Database

We are currently running a trial of Bio-Rad’s KnowitAll U Spectra Database until June 28, 2013.

“KnowItAll U provides users with a wide array of chemistry tools and unlimited access to 1.4 million spectra (NMR, IR, Raman, MS, UV-Vis)—the world’s largest collection of spectral data.  Users can access the entire spectral collection via the KnowItAll AnyWare™ web browser interface—a full suite of tools to search, manage, and analyze spectroscopic, chromatographic and chemical information; predict NMR spectra; draw structures; create reports; and more.”

Check it out here:

http://www.lib.ua.edu/databases/trials/dbtrial.htm

And let us know what you think here:

http://www.lib.ua.edu/databases/trials/dbtfeedback.htm

A Snapshot of PubMed Database

This snapshot of PubMed database will give you basic information about this most relevant and beneficial online resource in the field of medicine and nursing.

A service of the National Library of Medicine, PubMed provides access to over 11 million MEDLINE citations back to the Mid-1960s.  It provides links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.

Coverage: full text articles (only up to the most recent six months). You can use the UA libraries collections and Interlibrary Service to get full text of articles that are not linked to in the PubMed database.

Link: http://www.lib.ua.edu/databases/ and use the alpha list on the right side to get to “P” to look for PubMed.

Direct Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?db=pubmed

Tips for searching:

Begin a basic search by entering a keyword (Medical Subject Heading – MeSH Term) into the search field. Then narrow the results with related keywords or by using filters (to limit) offered on the sides of the search results page. Manage Filters link is on the on the right side and more additional filters on the left side of the results page. You can select language, type of publication, years of publication and more to filter the search results

What is MeSH terms in PubMed?

Medical Subject Headings – MESH

MeSH is the National Library of Medicine’s controlled vocabulary thesaurus. It consists of sets of terms naming descriptors in a hierarchical structure that permits searching at various levels of specificity. Each bibliographic reference is associated with a set of MeSH terms that describe the content of the item. Similarly, search queries use MeSH vocabulary to find items on a desired topic.

If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact Mangala Krishnamurthy in Rodgers Library. Contact mkrishna@ua.edu.

Don’t forget about Dissertations!

Published Dissertations/theses are extremely useful when researching a field. They often provide a very nice basic introduction to the subject, a great collection of references, and excellent insights for future work. I have found that many dissertations also provide a level of detail which you will not find in peer-reviewed journals, for example, a worked calculation or sample data analysis. You may also glean information about how you would like to organize your own dissertation/thesis. So don’t forget about searching for your research topic in our ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database!

http://goo.gl/OMBtj

Searching for Older Articles in Biology

Want to search for an older paper in biology? Say a paper written by George H. Denny, the man of Chimes himself? The database BIOSIS Previews indexes the biological literature back to 1926 and covers it to the present.

Click on databases in the left dark grey margin on the Rodgers Library web page. Then click on B then BIOSIS Previews.

Search
Denny George H OR Denny GH in Author
Click on the Search button.

You get
Title: Cholinesterase activity of human leucocytes
Author(s): DENNY, GEORGE H.; HAGERMAN, DWAIN D.
Source: SCIENCE Volume: 123 Issue: (3205) Pages: 987-988 Published: 1956

The BIOSIS full text button leads you to a version of the journal Science we don’t have. However if you use the electronic journal list or the online catalog to search for the journal Science , you will find that we get the electronic journal Science for 1956 in the JSTOR database. What luck!

Of course, you can also search for new articles on biological topics.